Manchester United have been cut to 6/1 in bwin’s Premier League winner predictions ahead of Sunday’s crunch clash with Liverpool at Anfield.
The Red Devils head to Merseyside holding a three-point lead at the top of the table following Tuesday’s hard-fought 1-0 win at Burnley.
Paul Pogba’s volley on 71 minutes proved decisive at Turf Moor, meaning Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have picked up 29 points from the last 33 available.
United are top at this stage of the season for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s victorious farewell 2012-13 campaign.
“I think that this kind of win shows that we are ready to compete for the title,” said Nemanja Matic, a two-time Premier League winner during his time at Chelsea.
“Sometimes (in the past) we looked like a team who wants to score as soon as possible, then we get panicked.
“I think here we showed more maturity, we showed that we are more clever – and on this pitch here, in this stadium against Burnley, it’s always hard to win the games.
“Not to concede a goal from the long balls, set-pieces, so we prepared the game well and I think that we deserved these three points.”
He added: “I’m happy for the team, for the team performance, for our team spirit and let’s see Sunday against Liverpool.
“It’s the biggest derby in England. We go there to compete with them, to see where we are against one of the best teams in the league, so I think that we are ready.”
Liverpool will be looking to get back on track after a poor run of league results which has led to them being eased out to 3/1 for the title.
The defending champions followed up draws against West Brom and Newcastle with a loss at Southampton and have slipped down to second.
City continue to climb up table
Manchester City are 4/6 favourites in bwin’s Premier League winner predictions after a 1-0 home win over Brighton put them third.
The Blues are four points off the summit but have a game in hand after Phil Foden’s 44th-minute strike settled the issue at Etihad Stadium.
City could have won more comfortably, as Raheem Sterling missed a late penalty, Bernardo Silva hit the woodwork and Robert Sanchez made several good saves.
They did have to sustain some late pressure, but claimed a fourth top-flight triumph in succession and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 14 games.
Pep Guardiola said: “In the last 20 minutes – not because we are bad but because they were good – we struggled.
“But it is a good signal for us. The best thing that could have happened was to win this way.”
Tottenham are out to 20/1 after being held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham on home turf, with Spurs six points off the pace.
Harry Kane’s first-half header put the hosts ahead but the Cottagers put up a spirited response and earned a worthy point through Ivan Cavaleiro’s 74th-minute equaliser.
Jose Mourinho pointed to several missed chances, but also suggested his defence was not individually good enough.
“This is the same story basically since the beginning of the season,” he said.
“We can talk about not killing the game yes, we can speak about that, and today was a clear situation where we could and should have killed the game in the first half.
“But then you go back to the goals that we concede and it’s not also easy to assimilate that.
“There are some things they have to do with the organisation of the team, but other things they have to do with individual skills, individual ability, and it’s as simple as that.”
Leicester are four points off the summit in fourth and can be backed at 40/1, with Everton on the same mark after winning 2-1 at Wolves and quoted at 66/1.
Chelsea are a further six points adrift after losing four of their last six league games and are available at 50/1.
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